the supposed rainstorm wouldn't happen until later in the afternoon, so i could've sanded if i wanted to. but instead of working on the house, i biked into boston to meet up with dan and company for lunch. indian food was the collective choice. normally there's an indian buffet place on mass ave i've been to a few times with these guys, but unfortunately it closed. the new venue was mela in the south end. i told them to give me a 30 minute head start (i'd be coming via bicycle), they told me at 11:30 to meet up at 12:15.

i ended up not leaving until 11:45, which gave me exactly 30 minutes. though biking is faster than walking (or public transportation for that matter), it still takes time. and 30 minutes was the minimum i needed to get to the south end, so i ended up hauling ass across town. i got there at exactly 12:15, a sweaty mess. and wouldn't you know it? nobody was there yet. so i waited outside, which gave me some time to collect my breath and dry off. at 12:30 i saw cymara, but she disappeared trying to find parking. she got lucky and got a spot right in front of the restaurant as soon as a car pulled out. that's when dan and his two kids along with mike and another coworker showed up, around 12:40.

i think it'd been more than 2 years since i last saw dan and cymara. i did have a chance to see dan last may when john and i were down in the smoky mountains: dan was in nashville (for work), which wasn't too far from where we were, but unfortunately we headed back to new york right when he arrived.

the only person who's been to mela before was mike. it wasn't just indian but indian buffet ($10/lunch). the ingredients were fresh and so was the food. the selection seemed a little on the light side but definitely quality over quantity. it'd be the sort of place i'd visit if it weren't so far from me (besides, camberville has its own assortment of indian buffet lunch stops). i was disappoint when they ran out of tandoori chicken. the most delicious thing there was the tomato coconut soup, which i've never had before. sweet with a strong coconut flavor, i'm going to look for recipes, it's that good.

i was invited to celebrate mike's birthday this evening, but i opted out. i said good bye to everyone and took off in the direction of nearby chinatown, where i bought some dried prunes. from there i went down berkeley street and took the pedestrian crosswalk from arlington onto the charles river bike path. i came home via the mass ave bridge through MIT. i was actually prepared for some downpours but disappointed that it never did rain.

my parents stopped by my place to drop off a bag of frozen fruit (i'm getting back into smoothies again) and a large watermelon. i usually get super tired after a long bike ride and went to go take a nap in the guest bedroom around 4:30. i didn't get up until 3 hours later.

for dinner i finished the other half of the salad from yesterday while watching a nova special on the pluto orbiter.

my blood work results came back yesterday and the doctor sent me a follow-up letter today. it seems my potassium level is a little low (due to my HBP medication), so i need to get back into eating more bananas. later in the evening i fixed myself a fruit smoothie: a tall glass of frozen fruit, half a cup of passion fruit juice, a cup of low-fat yogurt. the yogurt made it a little sour, normally i use a banana instead. i also forgot to add a sliver of ginger which adds some spice. i've got all summer to perfect my recipes!